Jan. 16 – (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's basketball team hosted its second straight ranked opponent Sunday afternoon at Skibo Gymnasium and once again pulled the upset victory topping #25 New York University 76-70 behind senior Shane Rife's (Mercersburg, Pa./James Buchanan) career-high 25 points. The win puts the Tartans University Athletic Association (UAA) record at 2-1 while they move to 5-8 overall. The Violets are now 11-3, 0-3.
Carnegie Mellon jumped out to an early 8-2 lead thanks to back-to-back three-point baskets from freshman Sean Brophy (Blue Bell, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) and Rife. The Violets were quick to respond, draining two straight of their own from behind the arc tying the game at 8-8 with 16:41 to play in the first stanza.
On the next trip down the court, Rife hit a step-back trey to start an 8-0 run for the Tartans and drained his third three of the half on the ensuing Tartan possession. The Cardinal and Gray's run turned into a 21-5 run giving the home team a 29-13 edge with 8:17 on the clock. New York did not go away as they answered the Tartans with an 18-4 run to close out the half to trail 33-31 at the break.
New York came out of the break and grabbed its second lead of the game, and first since the score was 2-0, on a three-point bucket Carl Yaffe. The lead was one that was not held for long, as freshman Christian Manoli (San Rafael, Calif./Terra Linda) scored on a lay-up less than 30 seconds later to give the lead back to the home team. New York never regained the lead the rest of the way as the Tartans went on for a 76-70 victory.
The Tartans took their largest lead of the second half, 61-53, following a bucket by freshman Rashaun Riley (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) with 8:16 to play in the contest. The Violets then scored the next seven points to pull within one at 61-60, but that was as close as they came, as Brophy hit his second three-pointer of the game pushing the Tartans lead to 64-60. Down the stretch New York trailed by three, 73-70, following another Yaffe trey, but freshman Asad Meghani (Dallas, Texas/The Greenhill School) sank two from the charity stripe to preserve the victory for the Tartans.
Carnegie Mellon shot 46.8% from the floor while New York shot 35.6%. The Violets controlled the glass hauling down 42 rebounds to Carnegie Mellon's 33.
Rife led all scorers with his 25 points. Junior John Duhring (Round Hill, Va./St. Maria Goretti) was the only other Tartan to score in double figures as he cashed in with 15. Brophy ended the game with a career-high nine points and five steals while grabbing six rebounds. Manoli led the Tartans with a career-high eight rebounds while Rife pulled down six in the win.
Andy Stein led the Violets with 20 points while D.J. Glavan and Yaffe also scored in double figures with 17 and 13 points, respectively.
The Tartans will be in action again on Friday, January 21 at 8:00 p.m. as they continue University Athletic Association play. The Cardinal and Gray will travel to Rochester.